Blood and Water
by Kayode Odusanya
Summary: The day was meant to go on like a normal day for Mark, but the turn of evens reveals more than Mark can take.


Mark kept trying Susan on the phone as he walked briskly to where they were meant to meet. He was getting a busy tone, and he wondered who would be online with his girlfriend for this long. She would be pissed at him that was for certain. Two hours had gone since when they were to meet at the cafeteria, but he had been held up by a practical in the lab.

"Hi?" A girl said as she quickly wrapped Mark's hand around hers'. He jumped out of shock, but she moved in closer and spoke into his ear very fast. "Please, just act like you know me." He looked forward, and saw three guys standing at T-Junction they were approaching. He definitely couldn't let the girl walk into their hands if they were out to get her, so he just played along. The girl started saying something about a party, and he just filled in the blank as best as he could.

When they were out of earshot of the goons, he turned and faced her. "Do you mind telling me what this is all about?" They were still walking hand-in-hand, and it just seemed awkward. She was about Marks' height, with a very full figured body.

"Wow! Thanks!" She said and gave him a peck on the chic. They disentangled and for a second, the smile that had appeared on her face disappeared, and she stared at Mark for a while, with a concern look on her face. Just as he was about to speak, she started heading towards the building on the left to them. She turned back half way to the building and waved at Mark. "Thanks a million; I'll be expecting your call."

Mark stood still for a couple of seconds trying to figure out what she meant by her last statement. Her perfume was still in the air around him, and he could still feel her body pressed up against his. Before he could get himself together and ask her what she meant, she was out of sight.

He made his way up-hill to the cafeteria. That part of the campus used to be an old village, and the village had enjoyed the defense advantage of seeing all their enemies approaching before they were too close. Mark wiped the sweat off his brow as he approached Susan. He had spotted her immediately he entered, sitting at one corner of the big eating area. She was wearing one of her favorite black polka dot dresses'

"Hey Mark! How are you doing?" A familiar voice called out. It was Abigail; a girl from his department. She was an out of shape girl that had been trying her best to make Mark a regular at her church's mid-week service.

"I'm fine." Mark replied. He put up a fake smile, and hoped the conversation would end there. He had to accept her invitation before she let him go.

Susan had just finished receiving a call as he approached her, and she was putting her phone in her bag. She looked up just as he was about to surprise her, as he normally did; but this time, she had a surprise for him. She looked up like she didn't recognize him, got her things together and started walking out of the cafeteria. He was sure she would be pissed, but not this pissed. She held a hand up when he tried to stop her- signaling that she wanted to be left alone. Mark had seen her pissed-off before, and knew what she was capable of doing when she was angry, so he just let her go. He leaned on the refrigerator for support and watched her leave. A girl walked up to him; he was waiting for her to say what she wanted, but she looked at him like he was meant to understand. "Helllooo! How am I supposed to get my Fanta?" She said, and he remembered that he was leaning on the refrigerator.

He stopped at the entrance of the cafeteria and just took in the air. The view was another spectacle, and he could see the whole Hostel area from here. This was why he and Susan liked this place. His hands were in his pocket, and he felt something in his right pocket. He brought it out, and found out it was a pink colored sticky note. He unfolded it_- Helen 08027794635_- was written on it. He was sure he had mistakenly picked it up when he was rushing out of the lab. A lot of people usually scatter their belongings around on the table because of how tedious the practical's can be at times. He crumpled up the paper and threw it in the waste bin.

He had spent at least half an hour enjoying the view from the cafeteria entrance and was surprised when he met Susan standing by his car. "Mark, who was that girl you were talking to?" From the tone of her voice, he was sure she was still angry.

"Abigail?" Mark said with a surprised look on his face. "That's a girl from my department. She…come on! How can you be fuming over someone like Abigail?"

"What are you talking about? I saw you …" She didn't finish the statement; obviously angered about the way her boyfriend was treating the matter. It finally hit Mark- He realized that it was possible Susan was waiting at the entrance of the cafeteria, and had obviously seen him with the mystery girl.

"Mark!" She shouted out to get his attention, as it was obviously to her that he was lost in thought.

"Hey! I'm really sorry; I thought you were talking about Abigail all along." Mark finished his sentence with a little chuckle, and started proceeding towards his girlfriend. She moved away from the car, and stood inches away from Mark.

"So, who is she?"

"Technically speaking, I don't know her."

"What are you talking about?" Susan sounded a bit angry now.

"Susan, she just used me to get pass some guys that probably wanted to beat her up or something."

"Mark, you don't make any sense."

"Susan, I swear. I do not know that girl."

"Call me when you get your facts right." Susan said and walked out on him. He was too tired to utter another word, so he just let her go.

Mark had been on his car bonnet for about an hour; lost in thoughts, unaware of passing time, till, somewhere in his subconscious, he noticed that the frequency of cars driving by had reduced. He had heard about robberies on this road and it got him a bit concerned. He got off the car and went and sat in the drivers sit for a few more minutes before driving off. As he drove towards the campus gate, there was an eerie feeling in the air; he felt like something was wrong. He parked the entrance of the only filling station on campus, and the lady at the back was signaling to him that they had closed. He nodded at her, but didn't move away. He just realized that his phone had not rang for a while and wanted to check it out. He searched everywhere in the car, but the phone was no-where in sight.

He was at a public phone boot, trying to get through to his phone and the lady told him that his phone was switched off, but he kept asking her to try it again. The lady lost her patience and didn't even look up at him anymore. And as he started walking back to his car in defeat, it hit him- _'I'll be expecting your call.'_ He remembered the girl say. He rushed back to the cafeteria.

"Mark?" He heard a familiar voice call him, and he stopped what he was doing long enough to know it was Abigail. He wasn't in the mood for any talk so behaved as if he didn't hear her, and went back to going through the thrash. It had to be here somewhere- he thought to himself. "I command you demon to leave this young man in the name of Jesus". Abigail shouted out behind him. He almost burst out laughing, but he controlled himself. Just then, he saw the pink sticky note. He un-wrapped it, and re-read the content.

The end of Abigail's prayer coincided with when he stopped going through the thrash, and it looked like she had worked a miracle. He turned around and faced the million eyes on him; he winked at Abigail, and without a word, ran out of the cafeteria.

…

He knocked on the door three times just like she had instructed him to on the phone, and the door opened without a word spoken. Mark looked behind him, and the concern he saw on the eyes of the other girls in the hostel almost made him change his mind, but he had to get his phone back so he proceeded. The inside of the room was beautiful, and she was sitting on the bed; typing something on the laptop. 'Maybe she was chatting with the people that were going to beat him up', Mark thought. He had shouted on her on the phone- maybe he had pissed her off. She looked up at him, and as if reading his mind, she laughed. "Relax; take a sit." She said and patted a portion of her bed. She had an "aiwa" hi-fi system at the other side of the bed. He didn't know the company still made products, and this particular one was really cute. Slow music was oozing out of the system, and for a second, Mark forgot where he was here.

He faced her and he saw she had been staring at him all the while. But stranger, she didn't avert her eyes. The discomfort he felt made him utter the first thing that came to his mind. "I think I would just get my phone and be on my way." He had heard crazy stories of horny girls ganging up to rape boys, and he was wondering maybe this was what all this was about. Maybe that's why the girl's at the hallway looked at him funny. She still didn't say anything. He looked at her again, and he saw something he couldn't describe in her eyes. It wasn't desire; it was more like joy, and he didn't understand. "Angela, can you give me my phone, and I would be on my way." What he said caused a little frown on her face, but as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, and a smile replaced it. She reached under her pillow and pulled his phone out.

"My name is Helen; not Angela." She said with a little frown.

"Sorry."

"Those guys from earlier were going to give you a beat-down." She said and it made him freeze. He shifted his attention from the screen of his Samsung Galaxy phone to her.

"What are you talking about?"

"I am sure you have heard of The Dalmatians?"

"Yes."

"Those were their 'pimps'" Helen said, laying a lot of emphasis on the last word. "You must have stood one of the Dalmatians up."

"I don't understand all you're talking about; I would be on my way if you don't mind." Mark said and started heading to the door.

"Mark, wait." She said and walked up to block him from going out. The sound of his name from her lips made him stop. But he thought for a second, he couldn't remember telling her his name.

"How did you know my name? I don't remember telling you."

"Mark, who knew you were going to be passing through that road tonight?"

"No one; I was going to meet my girlfriend."

"Okay, then your girlfriend knew. What's her name?"

"You're kidding right? Are you trying to say my girlfriend set me up? How do I even know your story about the 'pimps' is correct?"

"Because…" She broke off what she was going to say, and headed to the aiwa; she turned it up a notch and removed the scarf on her head before walking back to where Mark was. "Mark, I am the head of the Black Amazon cult." She said. Mark got weak in the eyes. "What's your girlfriend's name?" She asked, with her eyes never living Mark's all the while.

"Susan Jones." Mark said, reluctantly.

Helen laughed a little before talking. "She is one of the Dalmatians."

"That's impossible."

"Why? Because you think you know her? Have you ever wondered why she likes polka dots?"

"How did you know that?"

"That's how they identify themselves."

"But…" Mark was saying, and he became lost for words. He looked up at her, trying to figure out if she was just playing with his head, but she looked really serious. And he noticed she had really long hair; but other than that, he could swear he knew her from somewhere. He shook his thought from that, and focused on what was currently being served to him. He had cheated on Susan recently, but she didn't know about it. And just as if Helen read his mind, she spoke.

"They believe in earthly punishment of ill-treatment to the _'just'_. As I know everything that goes on campus, they also do. So, if you had…" She let him feel in the blanks.

"Susan would never do that to me."

"She would be going against their laws, and there are consequences for that." She said. Mark saw her looking at him, but it wasn't desire to have him he saw in her eyes, it was concern, and he was wondering who this girl was.

"Why would you want to help me?" Mark asked, and as if the question got her off guard, her disposition changed, and she was lost for words. After a couple seconds of silence, Mark walked out of the place.

…

He decided to avoid Susan for the main time, so he drove home. As he drove into his street, his Dad was just driving out. He flashed his car lights and Mark bowed in greeting. Lately he had been looking at his Dad differently, ever since he had seen him with a girl at a park close to his school. He had sat a distance away and watched for about an hour. They hadn't said much, but he could see that they had been happy seeing each other and he wondered how his Dad could be happy cheating on his Mom.

He was now parked on their front porch; sitting in the front sit lost in thought. Somewhere in his Subconscious, a thought made its way to his consciousness. It finally hit him as he processed the data- the girl he had seen with his Dad was none other than Helen. He got out of the car and walked slowly to the house. His mind kept wondering why his Dad's mistress would go out of her way to see that he didn't get hurt. He saw his Mom sitting alone at the dinning section with a picture on the table. She tried to hide the picture as she saw him, but it was too late. They greeted, and she held up the picture for him to see. He saw it was Helen in the picture and he was waiting for what his Mom was thinking would live him shocked; little did he know that he was right.

"Your Dad kept this a secret from me…that is your half-sister."


End file.
